Owdi A4 cadbury olé spruce up for the one day of sun we'll get in maybe July sometime.

[MVX11V]

Er, the cheap Jag shit out on me so I done the correct thing and bought another unknown car. the best thing to do with 20+ year old cars online is just get them delivered and expect to spend 5 hunnit on them at least to make them safe... that's where we are at.

I wanted a convertible with 4 seats. Audi A4 is cheap and has all the attraction only an early 2000's car can have... CD player... er... anyways, it's due in in 10 minutes as Abdul from Luton has just phoned me.

Stay tooned for the appreciation images.

[GeordieInExile]

1 hour ago, MVX11V said:

It's due in in 10 minutes as Abdul from Luton has just phoned me.

This can only go extremely well!

[Matty]

3 minutes ago, GeordieInExile said:

This can only go extremely well!

I've always believed you can pay a lot of money to be disappointed. Can't go that far wrong at no money 👍

[MVX11V]

Yes... I paid less than 2 bags for this 2003 A4. I expected issues.

Abdul just drove it from Luton to Cambs so it works. the door fob doesnt work, changed the battery and still no dice. It has 0 fuel amounts left but is still running. Door squeaks when you open it and the leccy roof needs using to free it up a bit.

Here's some images;

 

It has a cool box in the glove box? What inter dimensional thing is this? Why do I want my gloves cooled? The glove box lid is broken on the hinge.

As a bonus, there is absolutely no paperwork with this car.

I love* buying cars unseen but she feels like she has the potentials. 

I think it's quite a flash unit for the money, holding a bit of last century charm. I will spend most of tomorrow contemplating my life choices.

 

 

 

[N Dentressangle]

Abdul from Luton is one of my favourite sellers!

Crazy low miles, and nothing scary in the MoT history at any rate. Could actually be a really good car.

[MVX11V]

The miles are low. I thought it had been clocked, I guess it's had a giffer life. It's been banged at some point, gonna see if I can find out where. Weirdly, the traction control switch is well worn. 

[Matty]

2 hours ago, MVX11V said:

Weirdly, the traction control switch is well worn. 

In this period of VAG cars it just means its been used once or twice. That soft touch shite they coated everything with doesn't last 5 minutes.

[Split_Pin]

Solid motors those and great all rounders. I had 2x Tdis until yesterday, the remaining one is going nowhere. 

[ruffgeezer]

There are 2 or 3 of these in my local scrappy for a little while at least.

[Westbay]

Posted 12 hours ago

Yes... I paid less than 2 bags for this 2003 A4. I expected issues.

Abdul just drove it from Luton to Cambs so it works. the door fob doesnt work, changed the battery and still no dice. It has 0 fuel amounts left but is still running. Door squeaks when you open it and the leccy roof needs using to free it up a bit.

Here's some images;

 

It has a cool box in the glove box? What inter dimensional thing is this? Why do I want my gloves cooled? The glove box lid is broken on the hinge.

Stops yer chocies melting ! 🤣

[MVX11V]

I will be carrying out the cornetto test with it this summer in a 31 minute, sponsored by car vertical utube entitled 'can this old cars cool box stop an ice cream from melting whilst travelling home from the shops... In the UK...on a Thursday?!'

Already, we have made a purchase of a book pack.

Probably wrong... I'm learning the model/ platform numbers and have concluded from internet detectiving that this is a B6 platform, pre facelift.

Today I am snagging it. I have a sequence to try to get the fob working, but first... I guarantee you me that the battery charge has been destroyed by the cold overnight. Luckily, being a seasoned Jaguar owner, the battery charger is already out there, hooked up to my car, trying to keep that alive!

 

 

[Dave_Q]

Try holding lock or unlock on the remote key with the key in the ignition and the ignition in position 2 but engine not turning.

[MVX11V]

10 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Try holding lock or unlock on the remote key with the key in the ignition and the ignition in position 2 but engine not turning.

Yeah, something like that. It amazes me how annoying it is having to use a key to get in. Likely because the fob facility is there and doesn't work.

Already seen the remote roof opening mod thing. Likely to be installed soon. Apparently the roof can be operated by holding the key in the door lock. I do need to check for the presence of the tool supplied to get the roof up in a failure, I've seen the little cover for the failure release missing in the roof suggesting someone has been there before... Did they put the tool back?!? 

[Dave_Q]

26 minutes ago, MVX11V said:

Yeah, something like that. It amazes me how annoying it is having to use a key to get in. Likely because the fob facility is there and doesn't work.

Already seen the remote roof opening mod thing. Likely to be installed soon. Apparently the roof can be operated by holding the key in the door lock. I do need to check for the presence of the tool supplied to get the roof up in a failure, I've seen the little cover for the failure release missing in the roof suggesting someone has been there before... Did they put the tool back?!? 

Also unlocking with the key sets the alarm off.

Emergency roof release key should be in the end of the dash drivers side.

I don't think there is an option to open roof with key in lock, it might just roll down all the windows.

Definitely recommend getting a VCDS then you can look into coding options to turn some of this stuff on/off. I use the £20 knockoffs from AliExpress and they are spot on. 

Remote roof opening, smarttop was the original at about £300 new but plug and play. There is now a seller on eBay offering something that does the same thing for about £150 total (2 modules, one for one touch roof and one for remote roof) but they do need soldering. Think the seller is based in Poland.

[Dave_Q]

I've had a couple of these as you can probably tell, a B6 1.8t quattro and a B7 TDI both of which still live on on the forum somewhere.

[Sigmund Fraud]

B6s are very competent cars on the road, it's a real shame that Audi didn't build them to last.

Is this the 1.8T ?

[MVX11V]

7 hours ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

B6s are very competent cars on the road, it's a real shame that Audi didn't build them to last.

Is this the 1.8T ?

It is the 1.8T. I haven't actually drove this yet.

7 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

I don't think there is an option to open roof with key in lock, it might just roll down all the windows.

Definitely recommend getting a VCDS then you can look into coding options to turn some of this stuff on/off. I use the £20 knockoffs from AliExpress and they are spot on. 

What is VCDS please? 

I saw a UTube but the door lock was out of frame so likely a hoax, didn't get to try it today tho. I think the alarm has been silenced as it has gone off but no noise accompnied the flashing indicatiors!

Today I snagged on it. It started right up with a seriously low battery.

I produced a 20 page document with 42 snags!

Things ranged from wet electrics to a broken oil level guide. Lots of watery issues, the hinges for the lid that conceals the folded hood are both letting water into the boot compartment and this has condensated and caused havoc and mould.

The passenger seat does not adjust horizontally, sounds like the switch is not doing something. 

Lots of broken plastics and issues where things haven't been correctly replaced... like the battery!

This was loose and upon further inspection, I found hard wood off cuts failing to wedge it in place. At least they had the sense to use hard wood. The battery clamp was still in place but not clamping a thing. I believe that the wrong battery is fitted but I cannot identify it as the stickers are missing. I had to use a bit of the old land rovers rear number plate to act as a packer to bump the battery up a bit so the clamp would work. Who designed the clamp for this? I want names. I had to make a tool utilising the longest 6mm allen key that I could find.

 

The repaired body damage which gave this car a Cat D appears to be at the rear bumper as some overspray is evident, along with poorly fitted or missing trim.

Whoever had this car was a bit heavy handed. Many things are broken.

On the plus side, I got the remote working by installing a 3v battery. The one in it and the one I originally replaced that with were down to 2V and would not program. The 3v programmed straight away.

Further evidence of the low milage, the original and unused spare! The engine is also nice and unmessed with.

I think the next plan is to price up all the bits needed to sharpen this up. I need things like a door panel, sunvisor clip, floor mats, side repeaters... the list goes on!

I've dismantled the tailgate inside to let it dry out, and I'll need to fix those hinges.

 

 

 

[Dave_Q]

This is VCDS: 

https://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/VCDS.php

https://m.gendan.co.uk/product_VCV23.html

As you can see the genuine version is relatively pricey so I use these clone versions:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExlNRHE

Really can't be without one on one of these cars, will give you access to diagnostics and coding on all the modules.

[MVX11V]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

This is VCDS: 

https://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/VCDS.php

https://m.gendan.co.uk/product_VCV23.html

As you can see the genuine version is relatively pricey so I use these clone versions:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExlNRHE

Really can't be without one on one of these cars, will give you access to diagnostics and coding on all the modules.

Well thanks for the link. My experience of getting stuff like this for the early stype resulted in a fair few quid down the drain for clones which didn't work. (I ended up with a lincoln vin/ forscan set up for that).

Given my luck with these things,  obviously I have purchased the one above.

[Sigmund Fraud]

3 hours ago, MVX11V said:

Whoever had this car was a bit heavy handed. Many things are broken.

Sadly, it's probably just evidence of how far VAG have been taking built-in-obsolescence 😠

[MVX11V]

Tonight, stage 1 of the road to recovery was completed. Here's my recent shopping list for it: 

Electrical contact cleaner 

Rear tailgate struts

Tailgate no.plate lamps/ open switch

Fuel cap

Windscreen seal

Rear pads

Nsf interior door panel and clips

Seatbelt anchor covers

Glovebox hinge repair

Various switch covers

1 dash Blower vent

Sunvisor clips

Emergency release hole cover £20!

Wipers

Battery cover

Dipstick guide tube

Roof oil 1l @ £31!

Wing mounted indicator lenses

Wheel nut and locking nut cover set

Set of floor mats

 

All that was about £230 and gets rid of a lot of the little annoying missing and broken bits. Dull lights and things like the the ash tray that won't stay shut, I'll attempt repairs on. Next will be all the engine and auto box service!

A couple of diagnoses to do, one being the passenger seat adjustment. I haven't even looked under the thing yet... Don't want to! 😁

[bunglebus]

Nice to see someone fixing all the niggly faults which can make older cars unpleasant to live with. Must replace my broken glovebox door...

[MVX11V]

I've lost the ebay ad for this. I'm sure it was listed as a catD, that's what i bought it as. Car vertical'd it last night and it's clean. 

Got the engine type (bfb046426 whatever that means) from that report too as I'm trying to get service stuff and there are 11000 different 1.8t listed.

Anyone have any decent knowledge on the engines in these and more useful would be a linky to one of those spec sheets where the original service parts are listed. I spent 4 hours last night going around in circles, I'm sure I'm making it much more complicated than it should be! 🤓

[Westbay]

Have you got the book pack ? if so the service booklet should have the original build details i.e. engine code , gearbox code, paint code ect ...

If not look in the boot, under the carpet around the spare wheel well there may/should be a sticker witn the same codes ...

https://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/Audi

[scooobydont]

Shows as CAT D on Autotrader

 

 

Handy hint if you ever want to check the status for free you can start creating an ad for it on auto trader and it will check the insurance status for you :)

[Dave_Q]

All A4 1.8t convertibles are BFB.

I like Mann filters and they have a good catalogue.

https://www.mann-filter.com/uk-en/catalogue/search-results.html?mode=application&vehicleMake=AUDI&vehicleMakeSegment=Cars+%2B+Transporters&vehicleApplicationSegmentId=01&vehicleMakeId=00000000000002&vehicleModel=A4+%2B+Cabriolet+(8E%2F8H,+B6%2BB7)&vehicleModelId=00000000004362&vehicleTypeId=00000000132071&bhp=163&ccm=1781&engineCode=BFB&fuelType=04&kw=120&modelCode=&modelSeriesId=&serialNumberRange=&modelTypeId=00000000132071&vehicleManufacturedFrom=2002-06-01&vehicleManufacturedTo=2008-09-01&vehicleName=1.8+T&displayView=Grid

[MVX11V]

Service items have finally been got. GSF had it all except a fuel filter, and the correct 096 battery is coming to as the one on it keeps a charge but it's too weak under load.

Pulled the trigger on some more stuff: 

Roof cleaner and treatment

Brake caliper paint (flat grey and black)

Posca pen (orange to recolour lamps)

70% of the bits have arrived and I've planned on having a busy weekend!

[Leyland Worldmaster]

On 11/01/2025 at 19:47, N Dentressangle said:

Abdul from Luton is one of my favourite sellers!

I can see why, innit! 🤩🤩🤩

 

[MVX11V]

GSF have stiffed me on the £4.99 next day delivery. UPS now say Monday which is a pain in the arse because I could use that battery. Oh, well, I'll just have to keep it charged up. On the flip side though, I won a HBOL for 99p plus post. Plates have now been swapped over through doovla, the door panel has turned up along with the boot lid struts and half the caliper paint.

The Owdi will* get a bath too. This is the second car that I've bought which arrives looking the polar opposite to the sales images. My STR had 3 flat tyres and moss all around it and this car is also covered in moss! We should get some nice B4 and afters though.

[MVX11V]

Well I can't believe it. The Jag is easier to work on than this A4... [miffed]

The day started well with the plates being put on the respective cars and the Doozil Jag was carted away to it's new life. Then the problems started.

Aneasy onefor the first job, windscreen vipers... no, they were wrong. OK, hows about replacing the brittle dipstick guide tube... nope, incorrect part sourced, too short. Soooo, fine surely the 3D printed battery cover would slip straight on right? Wrong. I needed three hands to push various bits of the distorted plastic down and slide it at the same time to ensure all the clips engaged. What a frustrating nightmare given the simplicity of the main objective. Finally it was forced into place and I was a bit mad, I knew this because I was talking to myself.

A couple of false starts, ok, it happens. So I moved on to topping the power fluid up which went fault free, so things were surely looking up?

I then fitted the bootlid struts painlessly and the fuel cap too, so I was on a roll!

Until the next bit. Those cheap integrated rear numberplate lamp/ handle switch things are shit and don't fit properly as I found out so I cobbled bits together and made good the old one. The whole unit has a 4 pin plug and 1 pin was rotted away completely due to a huge and historic boot leak, which is why the lid release switch doesn't work. I set to putting that cable on it's own connector, bypassing the rotted pin connection, and the switch came alive! All worked great until the bootlid was closed, and then the switch would not release it. Several moments of checking connections and head scratching found that the solenoid which the switch operated was too weak to release the boot lid lock. New solenoid ordered!

By this time the daylight was showing signs of vanishing so I had only a couple of hours at the most left.

Why not diagnose the stuck passenger seat?

Bad idea that really. The seat was stuck as far forward as it could get. This conceals the front most bolts and threatens to make fixing it impossible if it has to come out. I read a post where a guy had actually cut the seat frame up in the car to get it out.

After some basic electrical testing by placing a meter on the respective switch side cables and operating the switch, I determined that the switch was working fine and that the motor had failed. Bums.

Where there is a will, there is a way and after studying the motor set up and how little room there was, I cut the seat out I decided to start taking bits of the seat frame apart, blindly, with a torx key. I got a cross piece of the frame separated enough to move the motor, which allowed me to remove a flexible drive cable which went to the runner from the failed motor. 

Success was gained as now the seat, with a bit of force, could be moved backward to reveal the front bolts! Hooray!

Doing that did take a toll on the hands though and they were beat.

I managed to get an image of the last three numbers on the motor and guessed the rest based on my research* of VW/ audi seat motors of the early '00's period and bagged myself a 2nd hand unit from a Pheaton thing.

Part numbers is the way to go with this, there is just so much stuff all labelled differently on the web.

I've now reordered the dipstick tube, wipers, and another sunvisor clip in the correct colour as the image I originally ordered from made the clip look grey, not black. I have also got a solenoid coming along with the mentioned motor.

I must confess that I went to remove the rear light cluster and not wanting to break anything, couldn't. I read the manual which had no info in to replace the rear lamps! I've looked at a unit online and it appears to remove sideways after taking out a retaining bolt inside the car... sweet, I'll give that a go tomorrow in a few hours and the roof needs a good soak in cleaner so that's the first job.

Now the car and I understand each other, I'll get some images up from todays missions.